UK 'second most popular country'

ninky_2

bendix wrote: »

OK . .let's cut to the chase? Have you been to the Sydney mardi gras. In person? At night?

I have.

Anyway, it's not about if it's overtly sexual or not. It is about if the reporters' comments are intrinsically homophobic if he is questioning the appropriateness of the behaviour.

And, according to you, even having the effrontry to question it is akin to homophobia (hating and fearing gays).

In other words, if you don't immediately accept everything we do and applaud us for it, you hate us.

he didn't name any specific behaviour. who is to know whether he was referring to a specific act or a more general sense of debauchery sensed by him. without naming what it is he finds 'disgusting' the implication is that much of the parade and its participants are disgusting. that is what makes it homophobic - the absence of any specific discussion and the broad brushstrokes wording which comes across as a wider condemnation.

the implication that all gay people are one and the same in behaviour and thought is also homophobic / prejudiced.

ninky_2

Generali wrote: »

The most important part I think is that if you don't like someone because they are gay or black or white then it's ok to say it. Britain has lost that part of freedom of speech and is a worse place for it.

actually it's not. nsw has anti-discrimination legislation much the same as the UK does.

bendix

ninky wrote: »

he didn't name any specific behaviour. who is to know whether he was referring to a specific act or a more general sense of debauchery sensed by him. without naming what it is he finds 'disgusting' the implication is that much of the parade and its participants are disgusting. that is what makes it homophobic - the absence of any specific discussion and the broad brushstrokes wording which comes across as a wider condemnation.

the implication that all gay people are one and the same in behaviour and thought is also homophobic / prejudiced.

So, in summary, you don't know what he's referring to, but are happy to damn him as homophobic. Because it suits your sense of moral outrage.

And, in summary, you've never been to see the spectacle itself, whereas i - who lived three blocks from Oxford Street in Sydney for years and saw it regularly - do know what I at least used to see regularly.

Try googling sydney mardi gras images. You will see pictures of guys fellating two-foot long dildos. You will see simulated oral sex on guys wearing nothing by rubber pants with dildo applied. You will see simulated anal sex.

None of which I have a problem with, but which I can fully understand why some people are questioning if it's appropriate in a public carnival.

Of course, one can't ask that question because to do so is to be branded homophobic, even while similar behaviour in a heterosexual environment wouldnt be tolerated.

Right ninky?

ninky_2

bendix wrote: »

So, in summary, you don't know what he's referring to, but are happy to damn him as homophobic. Because it suits your sense of moral outrage.

And, in summary, you've never been to see the spectacle itself, whereas i - who lived three blocks from Oxford Street in Sydney for years and saw it regularly - do know what I at least used to see regularly.

Try googling sydney mardi gras images. You will see pictures of guys fellating two-foot long dildos. You will see simulated oral sex on guys wearing nothing by rubber pants with dildo applied. You will see simulated anal sex.

None of which I have a problem with, but which I can fully understand why some people are questioning if it's appropriate in a public carnival.

Of course, one can't ask that question because to do so is to be branded homophobic, even while similar behaviour in a heterosexual environment wouldnt be tolerated.

Right ninky?

i draw your attention to the average hen party on leicester square. very similar behaviour. only more oral less anal. and more tit jiggling. i am very aware of the goings on of mardi gras thanks. i have friends who are working on the organisation of it.

can i suggest you google images of penis festival japan. mardi gras sydney is not at all unique in parading giant phalluses (phalli?) through public streets.

bendix

ninky wrote: »

i draw your attention to the average hen party on leicester square. very similar behaviour. only more oral less anal. and more tit jiggling. i am very aware of the goings on of mardi gras thanks. i have friends who are working on the organisation of it.

Precisely. And if such activities happen at a hen party on a Saturday night, they would likely get in trouble from the law. They would certainly expect to have their behaviour questioned.

So why shouldn't mardi gras behaviour be questioned also? Why are they protected, simply because it's part of their lifestyle or culture.

We don't tolerate certain parts of other cultural behaviour of other minority groups, yet because it's the gay community we have to accept it unquestioningly. And if we question it - nay, if we REFUSE to celebrate it - we are labelled homophobic.

bendix

ninky wrote: »

can i suggest you google images of penis festival japan. mardi gras sydney is not at all unique in parading giant phalluses (phalli?) through public streets.

Idiotic comparison. One is a derivation of a fertility rite; the other is quasi-pornographic.

And you know it.

Again, though, you're missing the point. The point isnt that they shouldn't do these things. I could give a toss. The point is that if we dare to question it, the default position is that we are bigots and homophobes.

There is no middle ground.

The broadcaster was not behing homophobic. He was questioning it. Of course, the defensive organisers take any questioning as virulent homophobia. They always do.

ninky_2

bendix wrote: »

Precisely. And if such activities happen at a hen party on a Saturday night, they would likely get in trouble from the law. They would certainly expect to have their behaviour questioned.

So why shouldn't mardi gras behaviour be questioned also? Why are they protected, simply because it's part of their lifestyle or culture.

We don't tolerate certain parts of other cultural behaviour of other minority groups, yet because it's the gay community we have to accept it unquestioningly. And if we question it - nay, if we REFUSE to celebrate it - we are labelled homophobic.

gay men do get arrested or cautioned if they overstep the mark. it just so happens that costumes including giant dildos or models of the same do not overstep the mark. i'd like to know of a single instance of an arrest on a hen party for walking around licking chocolate willy lollipops or similar.

as i said...japanese penis festival.